Nara is the primary ability system of (book name) that allows an individual to manipulate their life force (referred to as Cir) in order to create supernatural effect, primarily for use in combat (though there are non-combat applications of Cir and Nara).
Due to the inherent risk an ability like this poses, the existence of Nara is kept secret by Precipice and the nations within the Heaven's Council in order to prevent the large-scale damage such power could cause were it to be used by those with ill intent.
Cir is the life force of all things, and all things that are alive contain some amounts of Cir- though Cir is at its greatest density within being that have souls. All living beings require Cir to survive: therefore, any living being that is exhausted of its Cir will perish.
Within people, the soul is what creates one's Cir, and it is what allows for it to “coat” the entire body. To that end, any individual looking to become capable of manipulating their Cir must do so by first learning to control their soul and determine where Cir is released to, and in how great a density.
Typically, an individual's Cir dissipates out of the body harmlessly, and even those with the capability to use Cir must train in order to prevent this dissipation from occurring. While the dissipation of one's Cir is not innately harmful, it is what leads to things like fatigue and aging, being that it is directly linked to stamina, which means someone that is capable of stifling this release would be able to sleep less frequently, and slow the effects of aging.
Cir is an invisible force that cannot be seen. However, it is a force that can be sensed- meaning that individuals that hone their senses can eventually learn to detect individuals around them, or detect the activation of Nara within their presence. However, being that an advanced user of Cir can learn to reduce the amount of Cir they let out, they can masquerade as beginners, regular people, or hide their presence in its entirety.
A student that learns Cir Manipulation usually must do so via an instructor that already has the capability (though there are niche cases of self-taught Nara users, or those who gain Nara through external means). Through this instructor, an individual will learn how to manipulate the Cir that comes out of their soul. Usually, this initial learning phase has the objective of stopping the dissipation of Cir from one's body, as this is the most basic application of Cir, and serves as a fundamental building block for the other principles of learning to manipulate it. However, what this training entails is usually highly individualistic to the user, leading to divisive opinions on how to “properly teach it”.
There exists another- risky- way of learning to manipulate Cir, and that is through shock. When an individual's life is in danger, it is possible for an individual to learn the manipulation of Cir at once as a defense mechanism in an attempt to keep themself alive. While this manipulation of Cir is normally only temporary- being something akin to the hysterical strength an individual gets when in high-pressure situations- an individual can “remember how it felt” and work backwards to re-learn how to do so. While frowned upon, this can be applied by instructors of Cir manipulation to awaken the ability within their pupils. By placing them into a near-death situation, one that requires them to learn the ability in order to survive, they can forcibly awaken someone's capability. However, the success rate of such methods is usually very low, and can result in death. Further, being that individuals awakened in this way do not know how to control their Cir properly, it is possible for them to be unable to stop the heavy flow of Cir from the body that these methods usually create, leading to death via a lack of Cir in the body. It is estimated that of every forty individuals awakened in this way, only one will properly learn the skill, and twenty-three will die.
Despite these methods of learning, the actual mastery and learning advanced applications of Cir is normally a highly individualistic ordeal. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to the training of Cir manipulation, as each individual's Cir “feels” different. For instance, Oran describes her Cir as feeling like a “relentless torrent of water” whereas Mark describes his as something akin to “a warm, full-body embrace”. While an instructor is often necessary for the very first steps of learning to use Cir, the steps that follow usually must be performed mostly alone.
Being that Cir comes from the soul, it responds heavily to desire, willpower, and emotion. These three building blocks are considered essential to the creation of one's Nara.
Nara is a personal expression of one's Cir, put to form as a supernatural ability of some kind. Once an individual has learned deeply how to manipulate their own Cir, they can begin the process of learning to create their own Nara. A person's Nara is meant to reflect them as a person or be highly personalized- an ability that is a copy of someone else's will not ever provide as great a result as one that an individual created themselves. Beyond that, however, Nara can shape in theoretically any way- summoning constructs, producing elements, being allowed video game-like parries, or controlling other people are all realistically possible through Nara, provided one develops it far enough.
Nara does, however, require restrictions or rules. Nara that is incredibly powerful usually cannot be created off of a single person's Cir reserves alone, or would otherwise exhaust the user via a singular use. To that end, by introducing restrictions to an ability, one can reduce its Cir cost to a level that can be maintained by the user, and used repeatedly, as well as adding strength to it. For instance, an ability to call forward jets of water would be significantly weaker than an ability that calls forth jets of water but inflicts recoil to the user. An ability to summon weapons would be weaker than an ability to summon weapons as determined by a roll of the dice. One effective- and extremely common- condition placed upon abilities is the declaration of the ability's name upon its usage, or a similar activation phrase- though there are individuals that choose to forsake this very-common practice in favor of other restrictions.
Restrictions can be effectively added at-will to an ability. For instance, by explaining the exact conditions of one's ability, as well as all restrictions on it and the like, one can enhance the abilities of the Nara in question to a degree they would not have been at before. The idea of revealing one's hand, of course, is risky- as in fights with Nara, it is usually best to avoid the explanation of the mechanics of one's abilities.
People are usually predisposed to a certain type of Nara. While this predisposition is not strict- as individuals predisposed to one type of Nara are capable of using other types of Nara to high efficacy, it's easiest for an individual to use a type of Nara they're specialized in.